Lyricist Javed Akhtar recently testified before a Mumbai court that he attempted to persuade actors Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut to settle their feud amicably. Akhtar made this statement in response to Kangana’s allegations of extortion in her feud with the actor.
“In the month of March 2016, Dr. Ramesh Agarwal, accused Ms. Kangana Ranaut, and her sister Ms. Rangoli Chandel came to my house in Juhu in the evening to meet me at around 7.00 to 7.30 pm. At the time, I tried to persuade her about the controversy between herself and Mr. Hrithik Roshan, saying that they are both celebrities and that such type of controversy will affect their careers, and I asked her to forget everything and have a good relationship with Mr. Hrithik Roshan,” Akhtar stated in a statement.
Akhtar was testifying before Metropolitan Magistrate RM Shaikh in Andheri in his 2020 criminal defamation lawsuit, alleging Ranaut of causing him harm by bringing up his name in her news channel interview about actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide.
Akhtar claims that the footage of the stated interview on news channel has been viewed by millions of people on YouTube alone, causing his reputation to suffer.
Ranaut has also filed a private cross-complaint against Akhtar, accusing him of extortion and criminal intimidation by asking her to give a written apology in her public feud with Hrithik Roshan in 2016. During her feud with Hrithik Roshan, she claims Akhtar summoned her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with “malafide intention and ulterior motive.”
In his lawyer Jaykumar Bharadwaz’s cross-examination, Akhtar stated that he talked with Ranaut to ask her to resolve the problem between her and Hrithik Roshan amicably. He stated that he approached Roshan and Ranaut on the advice of Dr. Ramesh Agarwal, a family doctor for many people in the film business.
In his testimony, Akhtar stated that Ranaut was not responsive to his suggestions and that he did not press too hard because he had a very formal relationship with her. He stated that he and Ranaut did not argue during their meeting, and he even congratulated her on her National Award as she was leaving.
“I had a lot of respect for accused Ms. Kangana Ranaut’s performance as a film actress. That time, when she was departing after formal conversations, she informed me that she had received a National Award in Delhi, for which I expressed my heartfelt congratulations. At the same time, we were only talking and there were no arguments or frictions between us,” Akhtar claimed.
Akhtar stated that he had no communication with Kangana from that day till 2020. He stated that he read in a magazine in February 2020 that he had threatened Kangana but did not respond to it.
Ranaut allegedly warned Akhtar in a July 2020 interview with news channel that she would be fired from the profession and would have no choice but to commit suicide. Akhtar testified that she also said he was a member of a “suicide gang.”
Akhtar further stated that for four to five months following the interview, he was subjected to immense pressure and humiliation by people in the film industry, and it became embarrassing for him to continue working in the industry.
“Thereafter, for about 4-5 months, I was under tremendous pressure and humiliation by members of the film industry, people around me, society, and I saw that after the interview given by accused, it was becoming increasingly embarrassing for me to survive in the industry, so I made the decision to file this private complaint…”, Akhtar testified.
As a result, Akhtar stated, he filed a private complaint against Kangana for defamation under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (penalty for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
